Will ‘Hot’ Spring For M’s Translate To Successful Regular Season?

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(1090 The Fan) – We’ve heard a lot of feedback from you regarding the Mariners’ seemingly powerful offense exploding in Arizona right now:

“Everyone hits home runs in Spring Training”

“Hitting in a small, dry Phoenix stadium is incredibly different than hitting in a large, damp Seattle stadium”

“It takes longer for pitchers to adjust than for hitters to adjust”

Those are just some of the assessments we’ve heard from 1090 The Fan listeners through March 4th (the same period of time the Mariners have managed to bring in 83 runs in just 11 games). The offensive explosion is backed by a 10-1 start as well.

Last season, the M’s compiled a 16-9 record in spring training on their way to a 75-87 record in the regular season. As The Bleacher Report’s Todd Pheifer puts it, “[it’s] not exactly a case of one thing leading to another.”

Pheifer explores some of the M’s individual performances, however, and finds that there are most definitely some stats that shouldn’t be ignored. For example, Justin Smoak and Jason Bay are hitting .500 through 11 games. Both players have a lot riding on the 2013 season after miserable performances in 2012; Smoak is fighting to stay in the starting lineup and Bay is trying to stay with a major league club for an entire season.